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A man of quality is
not threatened by a woman for equality.
The saga of Annika
and Billie Jean.
Heroes for everywoman,
everyday. These two wonderful women did what they did with
different results, if you only go by the numbers, which is of
course, what sports is all about, but they did it with such
style and grace that their names will be remembered for
decades to come. And little girls everywhere now have another
icon to look up to. Hooray!
Of course there are
heroes in everyday life, too, and I don't mean to de-emphasize
them in any way. They're equally as important to the boys and
girls—and yes, men and women—with whom they interact on a
daily basis. But these two exceptional women did it in front
of the world with cameras and microphones watching and
listening, big-time.
Too many of today's
younger folks don't understand all the fuss. Girls can now be
and do anything they want. For that matter, folks of color can
pretty much say the same thing. The younger people take this
new-found freedom for granted, while us older folks worry
about them, and about the situation. After all, if it changed
once, so drastically, it can happen again, can't it?
Title IX came too late
for my sports participation, although it was of benefit to me
in other areas of my life, most noticeably employment. Too
many of today's younger generation do not understand or
believe the hassle we went through to get to where we are
today. If we forget from whence we came, we'll be in even
greater danger of losing our forward progress.
One of my early loves
was auto racing, especially the international road racing
variety. I grew up hearing about Goodwood and the Nurburg Ring
and Le Mans and Monza, all those place names that rolled so
trippingly from the tongue. My greatest heroine of that era
was Denise McCluggage, the top-ranked woman driver during the
50s and 60s. She was a terrific inspiration to me, in my own
driving career. Auto racing was one place where the sex of the
competitor didn't seem to be as important as the efficiency of
the equipment and the skills of the driver. In her marvelous
book of reminiscences, By Brooks Too Broad for Leaping
(Fulcorte Press; December 1994), she explains why she was
refused entry to compete at Le Mans. “The head of the
organizing committee had told Luigi (Chinetti): ‘This is an
invitational race, and we do not choose to invite women.” Come
to think of it, I don't know if any woman has ever raced
there—yet!
I was thrilled when
Janet Guthrie became the first woman to compete in the big
race at Indianapolis in 1977. Then a few years later,
Cleveland's Lyn St. James was afforded the same opportunity.
And now, 21-year-old Sarah Fisher, another Ohioan, has
competed for three years straight. How exciting!
As I understand it,
women may play golf at Augusta National, if invited to play
there by a member, they just can't become a member.
Being the bundle of complexities that I am, I don't have a
problem with that situation, although there are women who do.
I don't, probably because I'll never be in a financial
situation that would allow me to even consider joining such a
club, and anyway, I never really seriously played golf,
either. Had I done so, I might well look at the situation
differently. I do think Augusta National ought to sponsor an
LPGA tournament, though, to sort of even things up a bit.
Wouldn't that be fun?
Do you remember a few
years ago, when a professional women's baseball team toured
for a few summers? The Colorado Silver Bullets played
exhibitions against men's teams because there were no other
women's teams for them to play. Even so, the team went 6-38
against men in its first season (1994) but improved to 23-22
in its fourth and final year, before losing their corporate
sponsorship and unfortunately, disbanding.
The Olympics of 1996
forever changed the face of women's athletics in this country.
As a result of the gold medals won by the women's soccer,
basketball and softball teams, plus the subsequent gold medal
of the women's ice hockey team in 1998, suddenly people seemed
to realize that -- Hey! These are women out there playing. And
they're playing the same sport as the men do. By the same
rules, even. Oh, my goodness!
Since then, there have
been women at the minor league level of men's sports, on men's
teams. Manon Rheume was a goalie in men's hockey. This year,
Kendall Burnham is a utility infielder for the Central
League's Baseball San Angelo (TX) Colts. So far, she's pinch
hit twice and struck out once for no average. But if she
didn't walk in that other at bat, then she must have connected
with the ball, right? Pop up? Ground out? Fly out? Something,
at least.
There are a couple of
women's professional soccer leagues, and of course, the WNBA
is now beginning its seventh season. You can read about all of
these in most daily newspapers. But, do you want to hear a
real shocker? The fastest growing women's sport in the US
these days is women's full contact, tackle football. Really!
Football. Played to men's rules, on a regulation 100 yard
field and all. There are currently over 100 teams in the US in
9 leagues.
Did you know Cleveland
has a professional women's football team? The Cleveland
Fusion is a member of the National Women's Football
Association, and is now playing its second season. Last year,
the team went to the playoffs, and they're in line to repeat
that trip again this year. There are 30 teams in this league,
playing 8 games each over a 10 week period. At the end of 7
weeks, the Fusion is ranked first in offense (scoring
an average of 62.33 points per game) and second in defense
(allowing only 3.16 points per game). Not bad, eh? They'll be
hosting the Detroit Demolition on June 14 for the Great Lakes
Division title. The League Championship game will be in
Nashville TN on August 2. For more information or to order
tickets, their web-site is:
http://www.clevelandfusion.com
By telephone: (440)
816-1457 or email:
tickets@clevelandfusion.com
See you there?
Kelly Ferjutz
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